I Will Always Love You
by Animelover73
Summary: Before Deidara left his village he'd fallen in love with a fellow ninja. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but things don't always happen the way we plan. Life is just complicated like that. DeidaraxOc Don't like it? Don't read it :
1. Chapter 1

The first thing I noticed was his eyes. They were blue and left me awestruck. He had long blond hair and half of it was pulled up. His tan skin was slightly toned, and he bore a tight frown.

He looked in my direction and I quickly looked away, so he wouldn't see me staring at him. I peeked from behind the shelves in the art store and saw him moving up and down the aisles looking for something. I blushed, and tried to continue my shopping.

'Paint brushes.' I thought to myself. I looked on the shelves, seeing an assortment of sizes, then looked up on the upper shelf, and to my dismay were the paint brushes I needed. I reached on my tip toes trying to grab them, but it was in vain. I cursed my shortness.

I looked around for a moment and being too embarrassed, refused to ask for help. I stepped up on the second shelf and attempted to reach the brush, but I lost my footing. I wobbled backwards, and nearly fell on my butt, but a pair of strong arms caught me. I looked up and saw the blond boy smiling at me. He released me and I blushed. He then grabbed the brush and held it in front of me.

"Is this what you were reaching for, un?" He teased. I took the brush from his hands.

"Yea, thanks." I said turning to leave.

"What's your name, un?" I heard him call out when I was halfway down the aisle.

"Keiko." I said.

"I'm deidara, un." He said following me down the aisle.

"Okay?" I said wondering why he was still talking to me.

"I saw you starring at me when I walked in, so I assumed you were interested, un." He said being cocky.

"No, I'm afraid I'm not interested." I said, he was cute yes, but too cocky. His grin didn't falter.

"Are you sure, I could take you to get some dango, un." He said.

"No, I think I'll pass." I said trying to pay for the brush so I could make a get away.

"Well if you ever change your mind-"

""I wont" I cut in before he could finish. I handed the cashier the money and quickly left.

I walked home quickly, so I wouldn't be followed by the blond boy. I felt a little rude for not even considering his offer, but it just seemed strange to go eat dango with someone I'd never seen before in my life.

I finally got to the apartment that I lived in with my mom and step dad. I was tired and when I entered the house I heard my mom and step dad upstairs, doing something I didn't want to think about.

Well at least this gave me time to work on my art before I had to deal with my step dad. I sat in my room organizing my paint and readying my easel. However time always flies when you're not dealing with a psycho.

"Keiko!" I heard Yatsuo, my step dad, yell. He barged into my room. I took a deep breathe bracing myself for whatever might come next.

"Yes?" I asked apathetically.

"Where have you been all day?" I wanted to laugh, before I'd left I'd told him exactly where I was going and how long I'd be gone.

"I told you earlier I had to go turn in some paper work to the tsukiwakage, and that I was going to the art supply shop." I said calmly, no need to add fuel to the fire.

"No, you didn't." He said angrily. "Me and your mother feed you, clothe you, and keep a roof over your head, and this is how you repay us? By sneaking off and then lying." He was getting a little too angry, and I feared the worse.

"I didn't lie." I said trying to convince him I was innocent.

He marched over to me and grabbed me by the hair, I cringed. Then saw my mother walking into my room in tears as usual.

"Why do you have to be such a bad child?" She sobbed.

Yatsuo yanked me up by my hair and slapped me across my face. I fell back a little, but tried to hold my ground. I wanted to yell out in pain, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I lowered my head and looked at the floor, and kept telling myself it could be worse.

"What're we going to do with her?" My mother asked Yatsuo as if I wasn't standing in the same room as her.

"Sh, don't worry honey; everything's going to be alright. I'll take care of this; you go make yourself some tea." He said gently and ushered her out of the room. My mother was pathetic. He walked back in the room with an evil glint in his eyes. He shut the door and locked it, and that's when I began to wish I was dead.

By the end of it I was bruised on my stomach and back, thankfully not on the face. I breathed in cool air and tried to push back my tears. At least he never sexually assaulted me I told myself. I wanted to kill him with my own hands, but I couldn't, I was a chunin and he was a jonin, and aside from that if I killed him my mother would never forgive me.

I went to sleep early that night, not caring whether I ate or not, because I didn't want to see their faces.

I got up the next morning and began my usual routine. I showered, then brushed my teeth. I combed my deep brown hair that hung midway down my back.

When I was finally done getting ready I went into the kitchen to eat breakfast, my mom was asleep and my step dad was out on a mission for a couple of weeks, so thankfully I wouldn't have to deal with him for a while.

"Keiko." I heard my mother say.

"Yes?" I asked

"What are you doing today?" She asked me suspiciously.

"I have some training to do." I said tiredly.

"Are you going to be home soon? I don't want to have to worry about where you are all day." She said.

"Mom, I'm sixteen, you don't have to treat me like a kid, I'll be home soon, if I don't get held up with a mission or something." I said trying not to sound irritated.

"Keiko! I am not going to put up with you while your father is away. You better be on your best behavior." She said angrily.

"Fine, ill see you later." I almost spat.

I wiped away the sweat on my forehead and sat underneath a tree for shade, I'd been training all day in the sun, and needed a rest. I took a big bite out of the apple I'd packed and closed my eyes.

"Hey, un." I remembered the voice and wondered whether I should respond or pretend to be asleep. I opened my eyes and sat up.

"Hi." I said as he sat down.

"It's a nice day outside, un." He said casually. We were quiet.

"Why are you following me?" I asked finally. He laughed.

"I'm not following you, I'm meeting my teammates for a mission later on, I was coming to get a little training in before I left, un." Finally listening to him, he didn't sound so creepy.

"We got off on the wrong foot, huh, un?" He asked smiling.

"Well I don't usually get asked out by people I don't know." I said picking at the grass.

"No, I suppose that doesn't happen very often, un. Your just beautiful, un." I blushed.

"Well, thank you." I smiled.

"So you want to take me up on that offer for some dango?" He asked.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello everyone! I hope you like my previous chapter of: I Will Always Love You. I'm really excited since this is my first story. I'm not a fast writer, and I tend to procrastinate so I'm warning you now, I might not be too consistent when it comes to updating. I don't like flames, but constructive criticism would be great.

I don't own Naruto. Sadly.

"How was your mission?" I asked trying to start up a conversation with Deidara. I'd agreed to eat dango when he got back from his mission.

"It was fine, boring almost, un." I laughed.

"Okay mister hot shot." I took a bite of my food.

"What's that supposed to mean, un?" He asked me a little taken back.

"You're very cocky." I said stating a fact.

"Really, un?" He asked.

"Very." I said smiling brightly.

"I am not, un." He said refusing to believe me.

"Believe what you want." I teased

We nibbled our food quietly, not exactly sure what to say to one another. "Wanna play a game, un?" He asked sipping his green tea.

"Sure."

"I ask you a question, if you answer you get to ask me a question, un." He said giving me a mischievous smile.

"Fine." I said.

"Favorite color, un?"

"Blue." I blushed looking at his eyes. His blue eyes. "When did you graduate from the academy?" I asked

"I graduated when I was nine, un."

"So that's why I've never met you. I didn't graduate until I was eleven." I said.

"So are you a jonin or a chunin, un?"

"Chunin. What about you?"

"Jonin, un."

"For someone so cocky I would've thought you'd be in some secret organization or something." I said teasing him.

"I'm in the Explosion Corps, un!" He said defending himself.

"Oh, really? How interesting." I said sarcastically.

"You like art right, un?" He said changing the subject.

"Yea, I like to paint." I said smiling.

"I make sculptures, un."

Deidara insisted he walk me home since it was getting dark, and I obliged. It was almost sad that he wasn't as creepy as I'd first thought.

"This was actually kind of fun." I said smiling.

"Fun enough to do it again, un?" He asked.

"Maybe." We stopped in front of my apartment building.

"See you around, un."

"See ya." I said waving goodbye.

I pulled out my easel feeling myself overcome with the need to draw something. I stared at the blank canvas for a moment before my hands went to work.

Soon Deidara's face was staring back at me from the canvas. I redid the eyes trying to do him justice.

I didn't know why I was drawing him, I just felt like I needed to, I needed to get him out of my system.

I blushed; my drawing had actually come out almost perfect. It really looked like him, but I really wished I'd had some color pastels to color in those beautiful eyes.

I blushed and placed the canvas underneath my bed. I didn't know what intrigued me so much about Deidara, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I like that he was so confident. He'd had the guts to ask me to get some dango the first day he'd met me. Yes, it was a little strange at first, but I was so glad he'd done it.

I woke up exhausted, I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before because I'd been working on my sketch all night.

I sighed and got ready, then ate some breakfast. When I was done with my cereal Kenji came into the kitchen.

"Mom came home drunk last night." He stated.

"Really? What time?" I asked yawning.

"About four." He said sitting down across from me.

"When is Yatsuo coming home?"

"Next week. Are you excited?" He asked giving that smile that said he was joking.

"We should go see Toru." Kenji rolled his eyes at my statement, but obliged.

We went to Toru's where his parent's informed us that he was still asleep. We walked up stairs to his room and slammed the door open.

"Wake up Toru!" I yelled jumping on him.

"Ah!" He shot up out of his bed in fighting position. I laughed so hard I started crying.

"You're such a loser." Kenji said to Toru.

"I am not!" He yelled. Kenji was a year older than us, but he acted like he was an adult and we were kids.

We sat on Toru's floor chatting about previous missions and how our training was going and when we planned on taking the jonin exam.

"Did you see that girl with Yori sensei was with?" I asked Toru.

"Yeah, she's so pretty." Toru said, obviously he'd taken a liking to her.

"When do you think we'll be getting a mission?" Kenji asked.

"I don't know. There hasn't really been a need for us lately. Not a lot of missions are coming in period.

"Well maybe the next one will be a good one." I said seeing the silver lining.

"Yeah, and then I can show you two up like I always do!" Toru yelled.

Kenji tackled him to the floor hitting him over and over again with a pillow. Toru struggled to get out from underneath Kenji.

"You never show me up!" Kenji yelled.

I sighed, the only person who really irked Kenji was Toru, and Toru enjoyed every minute of it.

** Two days later

"Keiko, un!" Deidara yelled. I turned from the sketch of the flowers I was drawing.

"What're you doing here?" I asked happy to see him.

"I've been looking for you, un."

"How'd you know I'd be here?" I blushed.

"Because I looked everywhere, un." He said laughing.

"Why have you been looking for me?"

"I haven't seen you in forever, un."

"It's only been two days."

"I know, but I enjoy your company, un."

I laughed the continued my drawing and Deidara lay in the grass, hands behind his head staring at the clouds.

I turned and watched him, blood rushing to my face as I thought of how beautiful his eyes were. How beautiful he was in general.

"What're you drawing, un?" He asked.

I looked back quickly at my sketch and frowned, I wasn't capturing the beauty I saw. I tore the sheet of paper off and crumbled it, then placed it in my side bag.

"Nothing now."

"Why'd you do that, un?"

"It wasn't good enough." Deidara laughed.

He took my sketch book from me, along with my charcoal. Sitting upright his hands flew across the paper making strokes that from where I sat looked like scribbles.

He glanced back up at me, then back down at the paper, continuing his work. He was drawing me.

He looked back up at me then turned it around to where I could see. He was smiling brightly, and I looked down at the paper.

He'd captured me perfectly. I envied his artistic skills, I turned my head, a little hurt that he'd shown me up.

"It's beautiful." I finally said.

"Yours was better, un." He said closing my sketch book and placing it down beside him in the grass.

"Don't lie." I said almost bitterly.

"I'm not, un." He said seriously.

"It took you half as long to do what you did, compared to what I did."

"I've also been doing all kinds of art since I was three, un. It's my passion, my one true love, un."

"Oh, so first you show me up with your artistic skills and now you try to make it seem like you're more enthusiastic about it than I am?" I asked laughing.

"That's exactly what I'm doing, un." He said sarcastically.

I sat down on the grass beside him, and there we sat for hours talking about art and what we liked about it.

Deidara and I departed and I felt sad to see him go. He was so nice and I was beginning to really like him.

I went to the market getting some groceries that my mom had asked me to pick up for her. The market was bustling as usual and my stomach began to growl after smelling all the food the vendors were selling.

I went to grab an orange and my hand bumped another.

"I'm terribly sorry- Oh, hello Keiko." My sensei Yori said.

"Hello sensei, what have you been up to?" I asked.

"Missions. How's your training been going?"

"Good I've really improved on my chakra control." I said smiling brightly.

"That's great!" He said ruffling my hair. "How about we do some training tomorrow. Just you and me."

"That'd be great."

"I'll see you bright and early tomorrow."

"Bye!"

Me and Yori had been training for about two hours now, and I was really beginning to break a sweat.

"You're going to have to do better than that Keiko!" My sensei yelled. I sighed, sometimes it was just so exhausting being a ninja. I ran at him quickly, pushing chakra to the soles of my feet to speed me up. He moved to the side, but I anticipated his movement and my fist collided with his chest. He flew back into a tree.

"Keep going!" He yelled. Getting back to his feet and disappearing into the trees.

I followed him hot in pursuit. He was fast, but my small nimble body was practically built for speed.

I pushed forward and tackled him to the ground. I smiled and yelled triumphantly as he laughed.

"You've gotten a lot better. You're finally using your size to you your advantage." He said dusting himself off

I pulled out my water and drank it quickly.

"How's Yatsuo?" I felt like I would spit the water out of my mouth.

"Fine." I said, trying not to sound suspicious. I pulled at my shirt trying to get it to stop sticking to my sweaty body.

"What's that?" Yori asked pointing to the deep purple bruise on my stomach.

"It's nothing, just from training I guess." I said.

"Keiko, what is that?" He asked, his voice portraying nothing but seriousness.

"Nothing." I said turning my face away from him.

"Did Kenji or Toru do that?" He asked me.

"No, of course not!" I yelled.

"Keiko, that's a bad bruise, it's so big. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it didn't hurt that bad." I lied.

"Okay, well just be more careful when your training, wouldn't want you to get to hurt." He said smiling.

We took a break and drank some water, I never spent a lot of time with Yori sensei by myself, but I always felt like he was a father figure. He'd been friends with my dad when they were both younger. I wished he was my dad and not Yatsuo.

"So, who was that girl you were with the other day Sensei?" I asked slyly.

"What girl?" He asked. I felt good that for once someone else was blushing besides me.

"C'mon Sensei, you know what girl I'm talking about."

"Keiko, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Alright, if you won't tell me, I'll let it go. For now." I said smiling.

Well that's the second chapter. I'm really looking forward to some reviews, so please. It'll only take a minute! : )


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry, i had to re upload this chapter. I couldn't figure how to put breaks in, when i updated it first it took them out. Also, thanks for the reviews, they make me so happy. I don't own Naruto.**

I sat on my bed sketching angry little drawings. It'd been almost a week since I'd seen Deidara, and I broken heartedly came to the assumption that he just wasn't interested in me at all. I sighed deeply throwing my sketch book across my room. I fell on my side lying still in my bed.

I had almost fallen asleep when I was awoken with a knock. I got up slowly and drowsily then made my way over to the door. I yawned then opened it to see an excited Toru and passive Kenji.

"It's late, what do you want?" I asked tiredly.

"We've got a mission!" Toru exclaimed.

"Great." I mumbled to myself. I went back into my room to pack a bag. It was going to be a very long day.

Yori sensei was waiting for us at the village gate. Toru was so excited, it felt like he was draining my energy and using it to fuel himself. Kenji seemed aggravated with Toru's behavior; it was almost comical how opposite they were, but still had similarities.

"How are all of you?" Yori asked.

"Great." We said simultaneously.

"I've been worried that you haven't been following through on your training, Kenji." He said suspiciously.

"I have." Kenji said rubbing the back of his neck. I almost laughed to myself. Kenji hadn't trained at all that I had seen.

"I haven't seen any of you in a while, and even though I'm not really your sensei anymore, I always look out for you when we're on missions together, which you specifically, Toru, haven't been on a mission without me." He said.

"Don't get all emotional on us." Toru said disgustedly.

"I'm not, but anyways. I will not be going on this mission with you guys. You're all perfectly capable of doing this mission on your own, but because the Tsuchikage wants a four man team for the job he assigned a jonin to go with you, and he will be the leader."

I sighed. Toru had his mind set on being the leader for a mission before he died, and the way things had been going I was beginning to doubt that it would ever happen.

"What?" Toru yelled.

"Toru, stop complaining." Kenji said.

"You shut up Kenji!" He said crossing his arms and pouting.

"Anyways," Yori said changing the topic. "I'm here to brief you. You'll be going to a smaller village not too far from here to help a very rich man. His daughter has been kidnapped." He said smiling at us, then waved goodbye.

We sat on the ground and waited impatiently for the leader to come. I was glad Toru had stopped sulking and was becoming excited again; we were at least going on a mission.

"Hey look!" Kenji said pointing to a blond man walking towards us.

"That's Deidara san." Toru whispered. My heart dropped. What the hell was this guy doing here and since when was he so famous?

"Hello everyone, sorry I'm late, I just got back from a mission and was informed of this one, un." Oh… so that was why I hadn't seen him. Well, that's a perfect reason.

"Are you seriously in charge of this mission? This is so cool!" Toru yelled.

"Uh, yes, un." Deidara said awkwardly.

"It's good to see you." I said trying not to blush, he smiled at me.

"So, what's our mission?" Kenji asked.

"I'll explain when we get there, were already running late, un."

"Toru keep up!" Kenji yelled. It was snowing and we were all freezing cold, but Toru seemed to be taking it the hardest.

"Shut the fuck up Kenji!" Toru said shivering. I slowed my pace to keep up with him. The branches on the trees seemed to be frozen, and I was scared one of them would break if we weren't careful.

"It's cold huh?" I said trying to calm him down.

"You think?" He asked trying to laugh.

It was a sudden storm and we hadn't planned for the set back so we were trying to keep time. The snow was coming down furiously and it was getting harder and harder to see.

And then my worse fear came true, Kenji landed on a tree branch wrong and fell. His leg hit another tree branch and I heard a crack, that didn't come from the tree.

"Kenji!" Toru and I yelled simultaneously. Kenji hit the ground and Deidara was the first one to get to him. I was reaching into my back pack grabbing the medical gauze I'd packed.

He was in a lot of pain. He was yelling and cursing. Deidara was examining his leg and he obviously had no idea what he was doing.

"I've got this." I said to Deidara. He backed away and gave me space

I knelt down and began feeling around on Kenji's leg. It was tried to stay still and not squirm, but he wasn't doing a very good job.

"I need a stick, a straight stick." I said. Deidara and Toru took off. I pushed my charka into my leg and tried to ease his pain. I wasn't the best medic ninja, but I knew enough.

"It's going to be okay Kenji." He nodded.

"I found a stick, un." Deidara yelled. He ran over to me and I took it from him.

After we'd stabilized Kenji we decided it would be best if we stopped for the night, because the storm was just getting worse.

"I saw a cave about three miles from here." Give me a minute. He pulled out some clay from the pack on his hip. He began using his hand to sculpt a small figurine.

"This isn't the time to be playing with stupid clay." Toru yelled. I saw a flash of anger cross over Deidara's face, but was washed away with a look of concentration. Toru and I helped Kenji up and allowed him to lean on both of us. About a minute later Deidara had a little figurine that looked like a bird in his hands. He threw it in the air and brought two fingers to his mouth.

"Katsu!" The bird grew larger. "Get on, un." He said.

Toru carried Kenji up onto the bird. Once we were all on, we took off. We didn't go too high, and I assumed it was because if we lost control over the bird, it wouldn't be too high of a fall.

We reached the cave, and I was thankful because I was exhausted. Kenji had fallen asleep. Deidara carried him into the cave and we followed. It wasn't very deep, but deep enough to keep us warm.

"Ugh, I am so hungry." Toru said complaining.

"I don't have any food, because we were supposed to be there by now." I said hearing my stomach growl.

"This is all my fault, un." Deidara said sighing.

"It's not your fault Deidara, things go wrong on missions, that's just how it is. You're a great leader." I said trying to reassure Deidara.

We were cold and there was no wood to even attempt to make a fire, and to make matters worse we didn't even have blankets. I felt so dumb for not planning ahead and being prepared. Kenji was finally awake; I healed his leg a little making sure the bone fragments were aligning right. When I finished I removed the stick.

"Just be careful, it might not be as healed as I think it is." I said doubting my skills as a medic.

We all tried to huddle to keep each other warm, and I was scared we were going to have more problems with the weather.

Deidara and I took watch first. We sat close together, and I really just wanted to sleep. I tried to stay awake, but slowly I fell asleep.

** Dream**

_"I'll kill you boy!" Yatsuo yelled. _

_Kenji was trying to push Yatsuo off of him. I was pulling Yatsuo with all my might but he was pulling out a knife and bringing it to Kenji's throat. Blood splattered. _

_Kenji just stared at me, blood seemed to be coming out of his mouth too. He feel to the ground then lay there dead on the ground. _

_I rushed to him, throwing myself over his dead body, the warm blood seeping into my clothes. I tried to heal him, but I wasn't good enough, I was never good enough. _

_"Kenji!" Hot tears streaked down my face and I could hear Yatsuo laughing in the background. _

"Kenji!" I yelled. My eyes shot open.

"Keiko, are you okay, un?" He asked holding my shaking body.

"It was just a dream." I said not really telling Deidara, more trying to convince myself.

"Do you want to talk about it, un?"

"No, I'm fine. It was just a silly dream." I said.

"Keiko, you can tell me anything, un."

"I know." I said, sitting up straight and pretending to keep watch.


End file.
